Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. A book about people in the software industry with characters that feel very much like the sort of people I know in real life. My enjoyment of this book is surprising since I can’t stand anything else he’s written.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. I felt that there should be a comic entry in the list and this is simply leagues ahead of the competition.

Non-fiction:

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. While a lot of the predictions and even some of the suggestions turned out to be wildly off-base the concept of humanity desperately struggling to cope with the exponential increase in knowledge and its uses struck really opened my eyes.